Price Stabilisation Fund modification expands risk-management measures for plantation growers and pursues insurance-based options to improve access.
Modification of the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) Scheme updates the support mechanism for tea, coffee and rubber to address both price and crop risks and to enhance grower accessibility; stakeholder consultations are underway to consider a comprehensive insurance-based modality, and the existing PSF corpus is noted as the Scheme's resource base.

Freight corridor junction access enables regional rail traffic to interchange at designated points for operational convenience.
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) alignment in Gujarat incorporates junction arrangements at Palanpur, Mehsana and Sanand to enable interchange with Indian Railways, permitting traffic from Patan, Banaskantha and the Saurashtra-Kutch regions to access the WDFC as per operational convenience.

Partial reverse charge: equal sharing of service tax liability between provider and receiver for motor vehicle rentals.
Partial reverse charge for services is modified to require equal allocation of tax liability between supplier and recipient in renting of motor vehicle services, fixing the service tax burden to be shared equally between the service provider and the service receiver and implemented by amendment to the reverse charge notification.

Point of Taxation Rules: payment date or earlier three month trigger governs reverse charge service invoices after implementation.
Point of taxation for reverse charge services is the earlier of the payment date or the first day after a three month period from the invoice date; the amendment applies to invoices issued after the stated commencement and a transitional rule will govern the changeover.

Place of provision rules: location of the service receiver governs hiring of vessels or aircraft and intermediary treatment aligns.
Amendments remove a prescribed condition for determining the place of provision for repair services on temporarily imported goods, align intermediaries of goods with intermediaries of services, and exclude vessels (excluding yachts) and aircraft from a specified exception so that hiring such vessels or aircraft is governed by the general rule that the place of provision is the location of the service receiver.

Reverse charge mechanism shifts service tax liability to service receivers for director and recovery-agent services.
Specified services are placed under the reverse charge mechanism, making the service receiver liable: director-provided services to a body corporate, and recovery-agent services to banks, financial institutions and non-banking financial companies. The changes amend Notification No. 30/2012 on reverse charge and Rule 2 definitions of the Service Tax Rules, 1994, and are to operate with immediate effect.

Interest on late service tax: scaled simple interest introduced for delayed payments under section 75 to boost compliance.
A graduated interest regime varies simple interest rates per annum under Section 75 according to delay: tiered bands for up to six months, from six months up to one year, and for delays exceeding one year; prescribed by notification as a compliance enhancement with a notified commencement date.

Mandatory pre-deposit for appeals introduced, restricting appellate access unless statutory pre-deposit and procedural conditions are met.
Amendments to Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994 tighten procedural and compliance regimes for service tax by prescribing rules for rate of exchange, setting adjudication timelines, extending search and seizure authorization to officers notified by the Board, importing Central Excise provisions on retroactive notification effect, third party information obligations and penalties, and introducing a mandatory pre deposit requirement for appeals with a statutory ceiling; they also provide successor recovery rights and broaden rule making powers to mandate information, records, returns and impose restrictions to prevent evasion or misuse.

Retrospective exemption: services by the social security corporation treated as not taxable under Finance Bill provisions.
The Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2014 proposes a retrospective service tax exemption treating services rendered by the designated social security corporation before 1.7.2012 as not taxable, thereby removing historical service tax liability for that pre-cutoff period.

Taxable portion reduction for vessel transportation lowers effective service tax under Finance Bill, altering levy calculation.
Reduction of the taxable portion for transportation of goods by vessel from fifty percent to forty percent under the Finance (No. 2) Bill, 2014 decreases the effective service tax by lowering the taxable component used in the statutory levy calculation for maritime transport, with the change to commence on the Bill's stated effective date.

Service tax on works contracts: merger of valuation categories sets a uniform service portion, altering valuation and compliance.
The amendment to Rule 2A of the Service Tax Valuation Rules merges categories B and C into a single category and fixes the service portion for works contracts valuation at 70%, effective 1 October 2014.

Service tax expansion: online/mobile advertising and radio taxi services included; exemptions narrowed, educational exemptions restructured.
The Finance (No.2) Bill, 2014 expands the service tax net by extending levy to online and mobile advertising and to radio taxi services (with rent a cab abatement parity) and narrows general exemptions by withdrawing relief for clinical research and certain contract carriages, restricting government service exemptions to core public services, and restructuring exemptions for educational institutions to list incoming exempt services while withdrawing exemption for renting immovable property; small value supplier relief under Notification 33/2012 ST remains where applicable and amendments to Notification No. 25/2012 ST take immediate effect.

Free baggage allowance increased while duty free allowances for cigarettes, cigars and tobacco reduced under amended baggage rules.
Amendments to baggage rules increase the free baggage allowance for passengers and reduce the duty free allowances for tobacco products by lowering permitted quantities for cigarettes, cigars and loose tobacco, thereby adjusting customs exempt concessions applicable to personal baggage.

Alternate minimum tax credit allowed to be carried forward and claimed despite previous applicability restrictions in later years.
The amendment allows taxpayers who paid alternate minimum tax in an earlier year to claim credit in subsequent years in accordance with the credit provisions, notwithstanding prior applicability conditions that had required particular deductions or an adjusted total income threshold. The change removes impediments to claiming alternate minimum tax credit and is effective from the fiscal year commencing 1st April and applies to the specified assessment year and thereafter.

Extension of NPS deduction eligibility to private sector employees by removing the joining-date restriction.
Amendment removes the joining-date restriction for private sector employees so they may claim deductions for contributions to the New Pension Scheme and for employer contributions within the existing capped percentage of salary; the amendment includes an implementation date and applies to the specified assessment year and subsequent years.

Assessment of third-party income: transfer of seized records to another assessing officer if they bear on that person's income.
Amendment provides that where an assessing officer is satisfied seized money, bullion, jewellery, other valuable articles, books of account or documents belong to a person other than the searched person, those items shall be handed to the assessing officer having jurisdiction over that other person, who may issue notice and assess or reassess that person under the search-assessment procedure if satisfied the seized books, documents or assets bear on the determination of that person's total income for the relevant assessment year(s).

Provisional attachment extension lets senior tax officials prolong attachments until completion of assessment or reassessment proceedings.
Provisional attachment under section 281B allows the Assessing Officer, with prior approval, to attach an assessee's property to protect revenue; the existing proviso permits the Chief Commissioner or Commissioner to extend the six month attachment up to two years. The amendment adds Director General and Director to officials who may grant extensions and provides that the total extension cannot exceed two years or continue until a short period after assessment or reassessment, whichever is later, effective 1 October 2014.

Failure to produce accounts: amendment imposes imprisonment and fine for willful non production, strengthening enforcement.
The amendment provides that a person who willfully fails to produce accounts and documents in response to a notice under subsection (1) of section 142, or willfully fails to comply with a direction under subsection (2A) of section 142, shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment and with fine, replacing the prior alternative of imprisonment or a daily fine. The change takes effect from 1st October, 2014.

Continuity of proceedings: demand remains valid during appeals and interest liability follows subsequent variation orders accordingly.
The proposal deems a notice of demand to remain valid during the pendency of any appeal or proceeding in respect of the specified amount, enabling the demand to operate under the continuity principle and validation framework; where earlier orders reduce and later orders increase the amount on which interest was payable, the assessee must pay interest on the increased amount from the day after the original notice period ended until payment.

Valuation officer estimates asset value - report admissible in assessments; report period excluded from assessment time limits.
The Assessing Officer may require a Valuation Officer to estimate the value, including fair market value, of any asset, property or investment for assessment or reassessment, whether or not satisfied about the correctness of accounts. The Valuation Officer shall have powers akin to section 38A of the Wealth-tax Act, consider evidence produced by the assessee, give an opportunity of being heard, and may estimate value to the best of his judgment if the assessee does not co-operate. The Valuation Officer must send his estimate to the Assessing Officer and the assessee within the prescribed report period, and that period is excluded from the statutory time limit for completion of assessment or reassessment.